On her way home from a piano lesson in West Haven, Utah last week, 12-year-old Mickenzie Smith and her 9-year-old brother Kaidan were confronted by a man in a pickup truck.
Mickenzie, who had heard about other high-profile abductions, refused to become another statistic. She fought his advances, kicking, screaming, and insulting her kidnapper until he literally couldn't take it anymore.
Though Mickenzie and her brother were lucky the incident didn't escalate further, fighting back prevented a would-be tragedy. Mickenzie details how she escaped from her abductor.
DAN ABRAMS, 'THE ABRAMS REPORT' HOST: Mickenzie gave police an apparently perfect description of the man, right down to what kinds of shoes he was wearing. Within 36 hours, police arrested 22-year-old Damon Crist, was on probation on theft charges. Mickenzie has a few bruises but she is back safely with her brother and her family and now we are joined by Mickenzie Smith and her younger brother Kaidan. Hi guys. Thanks for taking the time.
MICKENZIE SMITH, FOUGHT OFF ATTACKER: Hi.
KAIDAN SMITH, SAW ATTEMPTED ABDUCTION: Hello.
ABRAMS: How you doing, Mickenzie?
M. SMITH: Good.
ABRAMS: You feeling all right?
M. SMITH: Yes.
ABRAMS: So tell me about this. So this guy, what, he tries to put you into the truck and at that point was it instincts or did you think about, I have to do this?
M. SMITH: It was a little bit of both. I had taken and thought about it with friends and we had talked about it as a family that you fight back if anything happens and it was also just instinct, just happened.
ABRAMS: And so you're literally kicking him. Is he trying to drive the car while this is happening?
M. SMITH: While he was driving, I was actually just hitting him and punching.
ABRAMS: In the face? Where were you punching?
M. SMITH: In the face, in the arm, shoulder. Just anywhere.
ABRAMS: Wow. And what, is he screaming? Is he — and then eventually, he just can't deal with it anymore and he says just get out.
M. SMITH: He was totally silent the whole time while this is going on. I'm screaming into his ear and doing the most obnoxious things I can.
ABRAMS: Like what?
M. SMITH: Like just calling him ridiculously stupid names.
ABRAMS: What? You mean like calming him a jerk...
M. SMITH: Yes. Like jerk, loser, idiot. And just doing things like that and he just sat there and at the end of the road, he told me to get out.
ABRAMS: Maybe he realized you were right. All right, Kaidan, you actually see this happen, right? And you immediately run to someone's house and call 911? How did you know to do that?
K. SMITH: Well, our family talks about it and so that's pretty much how I knew.
ABRAMS: Yes. What did you see happening? You knew that this was not someone Mickenzie knew, right? How did you know?
K. SMITH: Well first of all, because he asked for our names.
ABRAMS: Oh, really. Tell me about that. Tell me how he came up to you.
K. SMITH: Well he was just driving down the road and he asked what we were doing.
ABRAMS: And what did you say?
K. SMITH: Feeding the horses.
ABRAMS: And then what happened?
K. SMITH: Then he got out of the car and started talking about his lost dog and said his daughter was so mad and all this other stupid stuff.
ABRAMS: And then what?
K. SMITH: Then we tried to leave a couple times and he asked for our number and stuff like that and we told him no.
ABRAMS: And then he just grabbed Mickenzie?
K. SMITH: No. Then my sister said we had to leave. So she let me go first and so I was in front of the truck and then she came by and he grabbed her.
ABRAMS: So Mickenzie, you were suspicious of the kinds of questions he was asking, right?
M. SMITH: Yes. The things he was telling us they didn't seem right to me.
ABRAMS: There was just something about it that just seemed wrong?
M. SMITH: Yes. The whole feeling. I had a feeling inside that something wasn't right. Something bad was most likely going to happen.
ABRAMS: But you realize that parents around America are going to be showing their kids this video of the two of you explaining what you did because you did exactly what you needed to do. How do you feel about that?
M. SMITH: It's not my typical day. It's different.
ABRAMS: Mickenzie, congratulations. I mean what do I say to you? I'm so glad to see that you're OK. Kaidan, great job in knowing what to do immediately. This has got to be an awful, awful, scary experience and I think you dealt with it in exactly the way people would hope.
Watch the 'Abrams Report' for more analysis and interviews on the top legal stories each weeknight at 6 p.m. ET on MSNBC TV.